Mark Pope and his staff are scattered across the country while getting their early looks at the class of 2026 and 2027 recruits as the AAU season gets underway.
However, they may have one more recruit yet to join the class of 2025.
Several weeks back, 4-star wing Braydon Hawthorne took a visit to Lexington after recently decommitting from West Virginia. Now, he has officially set his new commitment date.
According to Travis Branham of 247 Sports, Hawthorne will announce his commitment of Tuesday at 7 PM ET live on 247 Sports. He will choose between the Kentucky Wildcats, Duke Blue Devils, Pittsburgh Panthers, West Virginia Mountaineers, or Virginia Tech Hokies.
Hawthorne, a 6-foot-8 and 175-pound forward who plays for Huntington Prep, has quickly climbed the recruiting ranking as of late. Landing at No. 33 overall according to 247 Sports, Hawthorne ranks at No. 101 overall according to the 247 Sports Composite rankings and is considered the No. 24 overall small forward in the class of 2025.
With visits taken to all of his finalists, it appears that Kentucky might be a long shot in this recruitment with 13 scholarship players on board. However, we have seen crazier things in recruiting.
Let’s see if Mark Pope and his staff will add another recruit from the high school ranks.